1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a heater assembly by which to quickly and efficiently heat a roll of linoleum in storage or at a job site characterized by cold weather so that linoleum may be easily and continuously dispensed from its roll.
2. Background Art
As will be known to linoleum installers, it may be both difficult and time consuming to dispense and/or install hard surface linoleum from a linoleum roll when the job site is located within a cold weather environment. That is, a low temperature typically causes the linoleum to be inflexible, brittle, and, therefore, hard to unroll and subject to cracking. One commonly practiced technique for heating a linoleum roll at a job site, so as to be better able to dispense the linoleum therefrom, involves utilizing large space heaters. However, this technique is expensive, inefficient and dangerous, since space heaters require an open flame to heat the roll. Another technique is to lay the linoleum roll in the sun so that the daylight heat will eventually raise the temperature of the linoleum. However, this technique is very slow, and, in many cases, is unreliable, particularly when the sun is shielded by a cloud cover.
Examples of conventional heating assemblies are available to referring to one or more of the following U.S. Pat. Nos.:
2,831,096: Apr. 15, 1958 PA1 3,644,708: Feb. 22, 1972 PA1 4,131,269: Dec. 26, 1978
U.S. While Pat. Nos. 2,831,096 and 3,644,708 describe apparatus for heating vinyl sheets and tiles, none of the disclosed apparatus is at all suitable for heating a roll of linoleum, or the like. Therefore, it would be desirable to have available at a job site or storage facility a heater to quickly, reliably and uniformly heat a roll of linoleum so that linoleum can be continuously and easily dispensed therefrom with the expenditure of a minimal pulling force and without subjecting the linoleum to cracking.